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Men’s Tennis: Monaghan advances to third round at invite

By Brian Hartnett | Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Notre Dame sophomore Quentin Monaghan won a pair of individual matches Monday and Tuesday to advance to the third round of the ITA All-American Championships at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla.

Monaghan followed up the win with another straight sets victory Tuesday afternoon, as he defeated Univeristy of San Diego sophomore UrosPetronijevic, 7-5, 6-4.

“You’re not going to find anybody that competes harder than Quentin,” Irish coach Ryan Sachire said. “He has a very unique ability to make a lot of shots and make his opponents really earn everything that they get. Quentin has really taken coaching well and knows and understands that he needs to extend his game even further and develop even more of an ability not to just outlast an opponent but in other situations to outhit and just simply beat an opponent.”

With the victory, Monaghan advanced to the third round of the championships, where he will face Texas freshman George Goldhoff today. Goldhoff advanced to the third round after defeating Florida freshman Elliott Orkin, 6-4, 6-1, in the first round and Drake junior AlenSalibasic, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, in the second round.

Goldhoff has limited college experience but possesses a lengthy tennis resume. He was ranked the No. 2 prospect in the class of 2013 by the Tennis Recruiting Network and is currently ranked No. 8 in the Preseason ITA Newcomers/Freshmen rankings.

“George is a great player and a good kid, and we talked to him a little bit during the recruiting process,” Sachire said. “He ultimately ended up at a great place in Texas and like I said, he’s good, so it will be a real good match. Quentin knows that he’ll have to play well to win, but he also knows that if he does play well, he’ll have a good chance.”

Sachire said he believes Monaghan is well prepared to handle the rigors and pressure of the single-elimination tournament.

“Certainly, when you’re in a tournament, you know that you’re playing to play the next round, trying to survive so you can play the next day,” Sachire said. “I think the biggest thing that we’re excited about is that Quentin’s playing well, he’s doing the things on the court that he’s been practicing, and it’s paying off in competition, which is obviously a huge step in his development and hopefully, he can continue to keep doing that as the week progresses.”

With a victory, Monaghan will advance to the main draw of the tournament, which begins Thursday. Irish senior Greg Andrews automatically qualified for the main draw of the tournament due to his No. 31 national ranking and will begin play Thursday.

Monaghan will look to advance to the main draw of the tournament when he faces off against Goldhoff today at 1:30 p.m. at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla.